The End
by Crispy-6usiness
Summary: You're going to die and not a whole lot happens. (Oluiver, Bringo, Galconio) [major character deaths]


**-The End-**

They said it wouldn't hurt. They said it would be like falling asleep, you would be there, and then you just wouldn't any more, no fuss involved. They said it wouldn't hurt, and yet it's hurting you more than anything else that happened in the past.

You don't know why. It's not like the idea of discontinuation had never occurred to you before, in fact, you had always thought that you would end up discontinued eventually, so you should feel relieved! No more waiting, no more thinking "maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow", just cold, hard reality, and relief.

Except you're not relieved, you're more stressed than ever, pacing back and forth across the tiles in the basement of the mansion where you live with the rest of the vocaloids, combing your racing mind for the reason why you feel so hurt.

It just doesn't make sense. Scared? Sure. Sad? Of course. Disappointed? Angry? Restless? Those are the feelings that would make sense to be feeling right now, but hurt? Nobody is doing this just to spite you, though you know a few vocals that would do something like that. Maybe if you still felt anything for vocanext, the company built you and Ring up and then tossed the two of you aside the second they heard the word "expenses", you would feel hurt that they finally decided to get rid of you, but you don't. This is about someone else. The someone else that's always there for you and somehow always makes everything ok, no matter how bleak the situation.

But this time he's not here, and that makes the situation seem even more bleak.

You flop onto the couch in the corner of the room and hug your knees to your chest, trying to slow your breathing a bit before you pass out. You knew this would happen tonight, they gave you enough warning, and he told you that he would be out of the mansion to record around the same time (of course it had to be tonight, of all nights), and you told yourself that you were ok with it and that it's better if he isn't around when it happens, but you didn't think his absence would affect you so much and now the thought of dying without him is making you hyperventilate and you think you need to go outside.

It's snowing as you sit out on the front yard of the mansion, but you don't really care. You're not sure if it's the stress, or if you're already fading, but your senses are more numb than usual. Except for the hot wetness on your cheeks, you can feel that painfully well. You hadn't noticed that you were crying until now, but you want to stop before your eyes start turning red.

You weren't allowed to be there when Galaco was discontinued. You were "too young" they said, as if it would _never _happen to you, so you don't know exactly how it happens, but you don't want your best friend thinking that you died being a huge crybaby. You try to focus on calming yourself down, but your mind eventually begins to wander again.

If you had told him what was going on, he would have dropped the recording in a heartbeat and stayed with you, but you and Ring promised each other that you wouldn't even mention anything about deactivation to anyone. Leon, Lola, and Miriam had just retired a week or so ago, and neither of you wanted to ruin the good mood around the mansion, although there won't be much you can do about that in a few minutes.

You take out your phone and watch as the digital clock turns from 11:56 to 11:57, silently, casually, just as it does every other evening, but this time, it strikes such fear into you that something inside just snaps.

You bring your free hand up to your face and bit down hard on your thumb as you stare wide-eyed at the white numbers on the screen. Three minutes left.

The final three minutes of your life and you're

completely

alone.

You stand up suddenly, fling your phone into a snow bank on the other side of the yard, and dash back through the large doors of the mansion. Sometimes it's easy to forget that you're still only twelve, seeing as most of your friends are twenty-somethings, but right now, you need someone, anyone at all, and you actually feel your age.

You know that right now, Ring would be upstairs making out with Bruno like it's her last day on earth (which it is, coincidentally), so you head up there, tripping up the stairs a few times. You're running down the hall towards Bruno's room, when you collide with Ring herself as she's running down the hall towards you, and you both fall to the floor in a tangle of long arms and legs. She gasps and wraps her arms around you, and you realize she's crying, which makes you realize that you're crying again too. So much for pretending to die happy.

"Luuuuuiiiiiii," she sniffles, "I was -hic- just coming to find you," then she drops her voice to a low whisper, "I can feel it, Lui, I don't want to go yet, I don't want to go,"

You push your face into her sweater (which is actually Bruno's) and silently hiccup a few times. You wish you could calm down so you could be there for Ring, you know how fragile she is, but all the bottled up emotions from the past few years decided to spill over all at once at the very last minute. The two of you just curl into each other and try your best to provide a little comfort for one another, yet even Ring doesn't make you feel better like he does.

Bruno comes out of his room, looking confused and concerned.

"Ring?" He calls and starts heading down the hall, "What was that about? Why did you leave in such a hurry-" his eyes widen as he approaches you and Ring curled up on the floor. He seems to understand what's happening immediately, frantically pulling out his phone.

Somewhere in the mansion, an old clock strikes twelve, and the world starts to buzz around you.

Suddenly, walls of colourful, translucent pixels rise around the two of you and Ring sits up, her arms still wrapped around your shoulders.

It's starting, both of you realize it at the exact same moment.

She's staring at the floor beside her, she would never get to touch her boyfriend again. Neither will you, you remember, right about now he'll be recording another song with that beautiful, beautiful voice of his that you'll never get to hear ever again.

Oh god.

You don't want to die.

Ring turns to Bruno, tears flowing freely from her eyes. He's on his knees, one hand pressed up against the pixelized window separating him and his girlfriend, and the other holding his phone to his ear. You can see him shouting something, to Ring or his phone, you don't know, you can't hear anything from outside the walls, just a mechanical ringing in your ears. You grip Ring's sweater and press your face back into her chest, trying to block out the ringing and the spinning and the sickening feeling of loneliness, until you hear Ring sob. You turn your head and follow her eyes to the wall, a single word flashes on the surface in bold, unsettling red letters: "ERROR".

You're scared, and you can't remember who told you it wouldn't hurt, but they lied.

He's not here with you, and it hurts like hell.

Bruno, on the other side of the pixels, puts down his phone and starts banging on the window, as if there's a chance he could break through it and save the two of you. You watch as other vocals with rooms in this hallway open up their doors and step out, trying to figure out who's making all the noise so late at night, and as their faces change from confused to horrified as they realize what's happening. There's Tonio and SweetAnn and Merli and Len and Gumi and Yuki, who is rushed out of the area by a teary-eyed SweetAnn. More and more people step out of their rooms and it seems like everyone you have ever met is in this hallway, except the one you need most. Tonio rushes up to Bruno and pulls him away from the window just as he's about to try to punch a hole through it. He struggles for a moment as Tonio holds him back, but he soon quits completely, falling to his knees again and staring at the ground.

Ring starts crying even harder and tightens her hold on you, rocking back and forth.

"This isn't right," she chokes out. "We had so much planned, so much going for us, and yet... and yet after all this time, _all of this waiting, _they're just gonna-" Her voice cracks, and you give her a small squeeze to tell her that you understand.

You look up over her shoulder at everyone outside the pixel walls. Nobody is moving, just staring. You scan your eyes over them all, realizing that this will be the last time you'll ever see them. Your eyes catch on Tonio's, he's staring right at you, shaking his head back and forth slowly. He had to watch Galaco, his fiancé at the time, go the same way just a little while ago, and now you, one of his best friends. Even you can't imagine what he's going through, and you wish you could stop it, you wish that nobody cared that you're leaving, but there's nothing you can do.

The world lurches violently around you and everything starts to flicker and you squeeze your eyes shut and you don't want to die you made the wrong decision when you kept this to yourself you forgot how much you hated being alone you don't want to leave yet you can't leave yet you haven't said goodbye to-

You hear him call out your name. You almost thought it was a hallucination, but then you hear it again, muffled distorted, like it came from behind thick glass. You open your eyes and find yourself staring straight into his. His hair is messed up and his eye is red and puffy but he has that sweet, understanding smile on his face that clears your mind for a moment. No more buzzing or shaking or wall of pixels, just you and him.

And it makes you feel so much better.

You reach out and touch your hand to the cold surface of the pixels and try your best to genuinely smile without sobbing. He laughs (to cover up his tears, you can tell) and puts his hand to the other side of the wall, leaning his forehead on the surface. Somehow, you find yourself laughing too, tears rolling down your face, this was the reason it hurt. The thought of leaving him behind hurt so badly, but now, it doesn't hurt as much.

The two of you look into each other's eyes one last time as the world begins to turn to static. Somehow, you aren't scared any more, your mind is completely clear, except for one word:

"Oliver-"

**-The End ~ End-**


End file.
